mohamed morsi has identified with them, supported them throughout this conflict. but then again, mohamed morsi has a relationship, the president of egypt, with the united states of america, with europe, with the international financial institutions. he's the one who needs to facilitate, leverage, pressure, hamas to agree to the cease-fire. and i do agree with jamie, as well. hillary clinton is essential now. the united states is the only country that can put together either a period of calm, deescalation or a full cease-fire. and then hopefully if that is achieved, pick up the initiative and try to reinvigorate discussions between palestinians and israelis. >> one thing this has me thinking about, people complain about the middle east and the conflict and the united states having to always deal with it of the only thing worse than being needed may be being not needed. is the united states losing influence? >> there's no question, america's role in the middle east has changed. we have pulled our forces out of iraq. we have leaders in the arab world now that are not